Violinist Axel Strauss to Perform at DePauw

September 1, 2000

September 1, 2000, Greencastle, Ind. - As part of the Performing Arts Series, violinist Axel Strauss will present a recital program featuring the works of Mozart, Prokofiev, Schoenberg and others on Monday, September 11. The recital is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center in Thompson Recital Hall. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students.

Strauss is winner of the 1998 Naumburg Violin Award in New York. As the first German artist to receive this prestigious prize, he continues a list of Naumburg winners that includes musicians such as Jorge Bolet, William Kapell, and Dawn Upshaw.

Strauss' American debut in November 1998 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., followed by his first New York appearance at Lincoln Center a few days later, marked the beginning of a busy concert season which continued with recitals in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Savannah and West Palm Beach. He was also featured as soloist with the Grand Rapids, Santa Fe and Des Moines Symphony Orchestras performing violin concertos by Mendelssohn, Khatchaturian and Wieniawski.

In June 1999 he ended the season with his appearance in the Naumburg concert series in New York's Central Park, playing Mozart's Fifth Concerto with the New York Chamber Symphony led by Robert Mann. His schedule for 1999-2000 has included performances with the Naples Philharmonic, the North Carolina and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras as well as recitals in the United States and in Europe.

Strauss started playing violin at the age of four and won his first competition when he was eight. His first major appearance with orchestra was in 1990 with the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic. During the 1993-94 season he gave recitals in Leipzig and Berlin and went on concert tour in Romania and Armenia.

In subsequent years, he toured Japan with the ensemble Philharmonic Violins Berlin and went to China where he appeared with the Shanghai Symphony. He has played 30 recitals throughout Germany as part of the national selection Concerts of Young Artists.

Since 1996 he has resided in New York City. He has played for Itzhak Perlman and studied chamber music with Felix Galimir. Apart from his performance activities, he is a passionate teacher and became Dorothy Delay's teaching assistant at Juilliard in 1998.

His discography includes the violin version of the Sonatas Op.120 by Brahms, the Duo for Violin and Cello by Zoltan Kodaly, a live recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto and a selection of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, arranged for violin and piano.

Strauss performs on an outstanding violin by J. F. Pressenda, Turin, 1845, on extended loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society Chicago.

Accompanying pianist Robert Koenig performs regularly in many of the major centers throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. As of September, 2000, Mr. Koenig has been appointed assistant professor of piano chamber music at the University of Kansas.

For up-to-date information about music events in the Performing Arts Center, call (765) 658-4379.